A diplomatic dispute erupted on X on Thursday when Israeli official Oren Marmorstein publicly challenged German Ambassador Steffen Seibert, noting that the ambassador was supposedly defending an illegal act that could imply a call to carry out genocide.
Dear Ambassador @GerAmbTLV, "From the River to the Sea" is a call for the ethnic cleansing of Jews. It is forbidden by law in Germany. This is what this bookshop is selling. This is about fighting calls for genocide, not about 'peaceful dialogue.' And please remember: it always… pic.twitter.com/I1aS1d4u08
— Oren Marmorstein (@OrenMarmorstein) March 13, 2025
The confrontation began after Germany's senior diplomat in Ramallah, Oliver Owcza, expressed concern about a police operation at the Educational Bookstore in east Jerusalem, which resulted in the detention of co-owner Imad Muna and the confiscation of literature that the Israel Police deemed to be inciting the murder of Israelis because of maps showing Palestine instead of Israel between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Owcza characterized the raid as "a worrisome blow to literature-driven education and cultural exchange in Jerusalem."
Ambassador Seibert defended Owcza's position, sharing his tweet and adding: "Two questions: What are the legal grounds for this new raid? And what purpose does it serve to keep detaining Palestinian booksellers who are the embodiment of peaceful dialogue?"
The Brandenburg Gate is illuminated in the colours of Israel and the Star of David, in Berlin, Germany November 9, 2023, with the caption "Never Again is Now." (Reuters / Lisi Niesner)
This angered Marmorstein, who is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs's spokersperson, and he responded directly to the German ambassador, writing: "From the River to the Sea is a call for ethnic cleansing of Jews. It is forbidden by law in Germany. This is what the bookshop is selling. This is about fighting calls for genocide, not about 'peaceful dialogue.' And please remember: it always starts with books." This could have been a veiled reference to the burning of books in Berlin that preceded the Holocaust.
The slogan "From the River to the Sea," while originally implying Palestinian statehood instead of Israel, has come to mean total extermination in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023 atrocities, chanted by Hamas supporters worldwide.
